Another water heater failure! 6 years

[DADoES]

 
I've had no problems with power regards to the electric tankless in the nearly 18 years here.  The house was built with it.  The pole-drop transformer serves me and one neighbor.  I can't recall an instance of a power glitch during a shower.  The Feb 2021 ice storm doesn't count.  Power didn't fail except for the out-periods during the couple days of controlled rolling outages and I could have showered during the on-periods ... but I had no need to take a shower during the few days of that weather.  There are days when I don't use any hot water so it doesn't exist within the structure of my house on those days, no power is expended to create it.

Coincidentally, I checked the stats on the tankless during a shower a few days ago.  1.7 GPM flow, 101°F setpoint, running 22% of maximum heating capacity.

 

[askolover]

reply 18

6 years old

 

[combo52]

Water heater life etc.

Having a water softener should not shorten the life of the water heater, in fact especially on a gas when it should greatly lengthen the life of it by not allowing heavy mineral buildup in the bottom of the tank.

Hi Greg, since you got such a short life out of the last water heater it would probably pay to check that anode in three or four years and replace it if it has significantly worn away.

A gas water heater that rumbles and sounds like an old tea kettle when it’s heating should be replaced it’s going to fail fairly soon it’s all so much less efficient in operation.

The hotter you run a gas water heater the shorter time it will last, ideally should not run it over 120°, anything over 140° for a home water heater system it’s just ridiculous it ruins everything in the house from hoses to the appliances etc. to say nothing of the severe scald danger to somebody just washing their hands even.

John L

 

[goatfarmer]

We have a Maytag water heater, made by State Industries. It's easily 15 years old. 

 

When we first installed it, we had to change the anode rod, because of a reaction it was having with our water, had a bad smell. Been trouble free since.

 

[wayupnorth]

I had an oil fired hot water heater in one of my apartment houses. In 15 years I replaced 4 tanks and swapped the burner systems over and this was on city water. But you never ran out of hot water. Now, I have an oil boiler with a HW coil, supposedly on demand, it still cant keep up.

 

[circlew]

The first water heater in this house was just a coil in the oil fired boiler used for hydronic space heating. There was a small, maybe 30 gallon, storage tank. My parents found it to be impractical, so a couple years after moving in it was replaced by an 80 gallon Rheem electric heater (1960). This tank lasted until sometime in the mid to late 80's. It was replaced by a 52 gallon A.O. Smith, which was in place until construction began for a renovation in 2006. After that phase of the renovation was complete, a 52 gallon Rheem was installed. I have found it to be suitable. The plumber installed a circulating pump, as the new (unfinished) kitchen area is a long way from the heater, but I haven't hooked it up yet. I considered electric tankless, as the house has a 300 amp service. If the tank fails, I might change to that; probably one for the baths, and another for the laundry and kitchen.

 

[dermacie]

We have lived here since the house was built in 1968 and we are on our 5th water heater.  4 of the 5 have been Ruud.  One of the Ruud lasted 18 years.  We had one Bradford-white and it lasted 8 years.  We did have expansion tank installed about 10 years ago.  We have gas hot water and our current is a 40 gallon Ruud installed in 2016

 

[mattl]

I've been getting 20+ years per tank on city water. Been awhile since I checked the anode rod, will do it soon. All tanks were TOL gas from Sears.

 

[Chetlaham]

@Dodes: Because your home was built with it, the power company has already done the math restricting your transformer down to two homes vs the typical 5-7.

I guess people with very reliable power can live with the probability, but me personally I'd hate for a car to hit a pole while I'm in the middle of a soapy shower.

 

[askolover]

I'll try to snap a pic of the anode today since the old tank is still at the curb awaiting the city to pick it up. The impact wrench was very loud but it made easy work of getting it out of an empty tank that would otherwise have just spun around while I was using a breaker bar.
I have one of these to install in a year or so
https://www.corroprotec.com/powered-anode-rod/
Recommended on water softener sites.

 

[DADoES]

 
ChetLaham, the subdivision is outside the city limits, no city water/sewer, no natural gas service.  My neighbor's house was one of the first two in the subdivision in 1982.  My house was built in 2003/4 (I bought it in 2005), among the last three of the twelve total.  I'm sure the transformer was changed at that time being that his house was the only one on the transformer on that pole for the previous 21 years.  My lot at a front corner wasn't developed until the house was built and isn't part of the original land plat of the subdivision.

All electric cooperatives in TX except one (which is not the one here) opted-out of the open retail market when that was established by deregulation.  The local cooperative owns their transmission lines so no other retailer can supply power through those lines.  There are a few areas around town that are dual-certified with two sets of transmission lines.  Residents/businesses within the coop's single-certified areas have no choice for electric retailer unless they can convince another line provider/retailer to build service lines to the location.  Mr. Neighbor worked for the coop for 44 years, ending as Manager of Engineering.

 

[polkanut]

Knock on wood!!!

We replaced the ancient electric water heater in our home in July of 1998 with a 40-gallon Ruud natural gas heater w/ a Power Vent. We bought the house in June of 1998. It has given flawless performance ever since. 

 

The reason the electric water heater was replaced so soon was that it couldn't keep up with doing two loads of laundry back-to-back. The only time the gas heater has run out of hot water was my fault when I decided to wash a load of laundry, run the dishwasher, and take a shower all at the same time.

[this post was last edited: 11/20/2022-16:28]

 

[DADoES]

 
Accumulation of sediment in any tank water heater, of course, effectively reduces the usable capacity, being that the sediment takes up space that'd otherwise be occupied by heated water.[this post was last edited: 11/20/2022-12:42]

 

[mark_wpduet]

It's so weird to me that I've never lived in a house with anything GAS....Everything has been electric... Water heaters, dryers... And I've lived about 9 different locations in my life...

in 2004 when I moved into this brand new house... there was an AO Smith 50 gallon electric water heater...It lasted exactly 15 years with absolutely nothing being done to it aside from me raising the temp from 120 to 130 (which I'm not sure why I did that)... It started leaking in 2019 and PURE LUCK I caught it just as it started...Keep in mind we have no water softener and it's moderately hard city water.. I don't remember the water heater performing any differently from the 1st day to the last day as far as running out of hot water...

The current heater is a 40 gallon AO Smith BOL (yes, bottom of the line).. We left the temp at default and it seems to work great...but in all honesty.. I'm not expecting anything made today to last as long as something made 15 years ago...

I remember watching a video a couple of years ago... this popular appliance YouTuber did a video on "should you drain your water heater yearly?" He went into detail as to why it may be best to just leave them alone... I wish I could find the link but I can't.

 

[sudsmaster]

I found this little article tonight to be both informative and helpful.

 

Here is an excerpt, and the full link is below:

 

<h1 class="entry-title entry-title--large p-name" data-content-field="title">Is a Popping Water Heater Dangerous?</h1>
<h2 style="white-space: pre-wrap;">How to flush the water heater tank</h2>
To prevent popping sounds and damage to the water heater and the surrounding areas, flush your tank. The process is elaborate, but after a few times, you should be a master. If there is ever a safety concern or if you do not have the DIY mindset, contact a professional plumber to inspect and flush out the tank. 

<ol data-rte-list="default">
<li>
Turn off an electric water heater at the circuit breaker. For a gas heater, switch the gas setting to "pilot."

</li>
<li>
To stop extra water from getting into the water heater, adjust the lever to the cold water to a 90-degree angle. 

</li>
<li>
Affix your garden hose to the drain valve and place the opposite end outdoors or in a basement drain to extract the hot water.

</li>
<li>
To get the water pumping through the hose, open the pressure valve and turn on a hot water faucet elsewhere in your home. 

</li>
<li>
You can now open the water heater spigot or drain valve. Be cautious as the water will be HOT when running through the tap. 

</li>
<li>
Once the water has fully drained, the flushing process can begin. Close the pressure valve and then turn on the cold water lever. Switch the lever from open to closed several times to flush out leftover sediment. 

</li>
<li>
Once the water coming out is clear, this part of the flush is complete. 

</li>
<li>
Shut the water heater spigot or drain valve and detach the hose. 

</li>
<li>
Align the lever to the cold water with the water inlet pipe.

</li>
<li>
Let the water heater tank refill, which should take roughly 10 minutes. 

</li>
<li>
To release the air from the tank and the pipes, turn on a warm water faucet. Turn off the fixture when the running water is clear and no longer murky or cloudy. 

</li>
<li>
Return power to the water heater at the circuit breaker for an electric water heater or turn the gas line from "pilot" to "on." 

</li>
</ol>
To eliminate the possibility of a water heater explosion or concerning sounds coming from the unit, regularly flush the water heater tank every six months. Consider installing a salt-free water conditioner in your home to improve your water heater's efficiency and prevent sediment buildup. 

 

 

 

 

https://www.noworriesrooter.com/blog/is-a-popping-water-heater-dangerous

 

[Chetlaham]

@DoDoes: Nice! Do you have a zoomed in pic of the front of the pole transformer? I'd eyeball this one at around 10 or 25kva.

Typically these units can carry 200-300% their loading for about an hour assuming the oil has enough time to cool off in between.

Throughout most of the day homes draw 300 watts at most, sometimes going to 3,500 watts in the peak of summer or the cold of winter with the central AC or heat pump cycling. As people come or leave the home turning the stove, oven, toaster, water heater, dryer, ect the energy use can spike upwards of 10,800 watts for about an hour.

For 5 average homes the math works out perfectly- wattage on the transformer bobbing down and up (remember that HVAC cycles) to 17,500 watts 21 hours a day, with peaks roughly 1 hour in duration every 6 hours hitting 54,000 watts. 6 hours in between of cyclic loading allows the oil to gradually cool down; while the oil absorbs heat preventing the core from overheating during peak periods.

A surprise 5000-10,000+ watts can push things over the edge. While the unit may not fail immediately, the shortened life and dimming of lights eventually becomes noticed.

I'm curious, have you ever recorded you're homes full electric profile? I've found such data intriguing.

 

[sudsmaster]

The water heater here might be a bit of a concern. I may have mentioned already that I've got a spare, from a neighbor that was moving and put it out on the street because the realtor told him he couldn't sell the home with a WH that was near end of life.  It's a six year warranty, A 40 gal GE, but my understanding is that they are all basically the same, the warranty just covers a longer period but costs more.

 

In any case, I just went out an pulled the anode rod on the spare water heater. It's mostly intact, maybe slight wear on about 1/3 of its length. If and when I need to put this one into service, I have a couple of spare anode rods that should work just fine, so just in case I'll put one of those in. And yes, I'll flush the thing out. I got a narrow beam flashlight on the anode rod hole, and while there is some white (probably anode rod) stuff on the bottom it's minimal. So as long as it fires up and heats OK, should be good to go.

 

The attached link is a good source of info, and confirms my suspicions about water heater longevity, anode rods, etc. The water heater that come with this house 25 years ago is bumping a bit. I have wrapped it with a thermal blanket, so I can't easily view the details, but as I recall it's a Montgomery Ward brand. Who knows who made it? And it's probably a 40 gallon, not a 30 gallon. I'm planning on giving it a somewhat overdue drain session soon so we'll see if that helps with the noises.

 

https://www.waterheaterrescue.com/water-heaters-101/choosing-a-water-heater.html

 

[askolover]

I can't get a pic of the remnants of the anode...the tank is gone from the curb. I think a scrapper picked it up over the weekend. But it was basically just a wire left!

 

[combo52]

Is a popping water heater dangerous

From reply 33

Electric water heaters don’t start popping because there’s minerals in the bottom of them just really only applies to standard cast ones.

Once a water heater starts popping in rumbling flushing will not remove cooked on minerals. Yes if you do the flushing it regularly it might help it keep from getting that way but you’re not gonna remove it without doing some heavy duty scraping etc. and then the chunks probably won’t drain out of the drain anyway.

This is why it’s recommended to have a water softener if you have hard water.

Water heaters do not explode from mineral buildup and they should not explode at all.

I have read that it’s a good idea to replace gas water heaters fairly often because they lose efficiency because of the mineral buildup etc.

Electric water heaters of course never lose efficiency at all, the only real danger is letting the minerals build up so deep that it covers the heating element and then the lower element will fail pretty quickly.

John

 

[kb0nes]

The Water Heater Rescue Forums are likely the best place for water heater information on the Internet.

https://waterheaterrescue.com/

Armed with the information on this site and with the use of a titanium wire powered anode vs a sacrificial anode, it is possible to extend the life of a standard water heater several times the typical life.